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c-/ NX I INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND DONALD A MACKENZIE . With 1frustrationsinQfout Warwick, Gcme vy r monocAron-)c THE GRESHAM PUBLISHING COMPANY 34 SOUTHAMPTON ST. STRAND LONDON Wi Sco \r> <3 Co / PREFACE This volume deals with the myths and legends of India, which survive to us in the rich and abundant store- house of Sanskrit literature, and with the rise and growth of Brahmanism, Buddhism, Jainism^/&c. The reader is ntroduced to the various' sacred'works of the Hindus, i icluding the ancient'invocatory hymns-df-the four Vedas, the later speculative and expository rtForest Books' in which "the Absolute is grasped and proclaimed", and those great epie pqems the Rdmdyana, which is three times longer than the-Iliad^ and the Mdkdfrharatay which is four times longer.'than the Rdmc.ya.rta'.' In no other country have the national, poets giv;en. fuller and finer expression to the beliefs7 and ideals 'and traditions of a people, or achieved as a result wider' and more enduring f me. At the present day over two hundred million ] lindus are familiar in varying degrees with the legendary hemes and traditional beliefs which the ancient forest sages and poets of India invested with much beautiful symbolism, and used as mediums for speculative thought and profound spiritual teachings. The sacred books of India are to the Hindus what the Bible is to Christians. Those who read them, or hear them read, are believed to be assured of prosperity in this world and of salvation in the next. To students of history, of ethnology, and of comparative religion they present features of peculiar interest, for they contain an elaborate sociology of the THE NEW YORK'pUBfcIC LIBRARY CIRCULATION EPARTIVVENT EXTENSION DIVISION FIFTH AVENBE AND 42i* STREET PREFACE ii ancient Aryo-Indians, their political organizations, their codes of laws, their high ethical code, and above all their conceptions of God, the soul, and the Universe. Some knowledge of them is necessary for those who desire to approach with sympathy the investigation of the religious beliefs of our Hindu fellow men and to understand their outlook upon life and the world. The Introduction deals with various aspects of the study of these ancient myths and legends which have been the inspiration of a national literature infused with much grandeur and sublimity.. <The, historic Aryan controversy, of which the science .of comparative mythology is a by- product, is passed';u-nder,review, and,'it is shown to what extent philological theories regarding' race problems have been modified during recent years as' a result of the adoption of broader and more exact methods of ethnic and archaeological research and the ever-extending study of comparative'''mythology. There h^.s also been con- densed much iri'iportant data dealingJw.ith the early phases of Aryo-Indian.civ'i-lTza'tion-accumulated for historical pur- poses by industripu?' a/hd painstaking Sanskrit scholars who have been engaged ir investigating and systematizing the internal evidence of the various religious poems and treatises. It will be found that no general agreement has yet been reached regarding Aryo-lndian chronology, but Jt now appears to be well established that although there were early cultural as well as racial "drifts", fresh in- vasions, which had far-reaching results in the social and religious life of northern India, occurred at a late period in what is known as the Vedic Age. In consequence, the problem presented by this ancient civilization tends rather to grow more complex than to become simplified. Its origin is still wrapped in obscurity. At the very dawn of history Aryo-lndian culture had attained a compara-